Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

It is very hard, no doubt about that! If you have lots of money you could keep on buying PSAs through SBuilder or one of the other co-ops. They say it's a numbers game and you will eventually find your diamonds among the hundreds of inactive affiliates you join up.

However if you can't afford to do that, join lots of safelists and traffic exchanges and put out loads of ads in these free advertising resources. (These aren't really free because you have to spend so much time earning your advertising credits.)

Blogging, your own personal website, talking about SFI on facebook and twitter and other social media sites, are also great ways to spread the word and build your team.

I recommend setting up multiple ad campaigns, so that you can advertise to different audiences - some for those who want to build an online business, those who enjoy the thrill of auctions, those who may want particular products in a niche in TripleClicks, etc. We have many gateways we can advertise and lots of banners to choose from as well, so use them and plaster them all over the place!

Of course when you do get sign-ups, be available immediately (if you're awake!) Be the best possible sponsor you can be and nurture them lovingly.

Good luck to you!

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It is very hard, no doubt about that! If you have lots of money you could keep on buying PSAs through SBuilder or one of the other co-ops. They say it's a numbers game and you will eventually find your diamonds among the hundreds of inactive affiliates you join up.

However if you can't afford to do that, join lots of safelists and traffic exchanges and put out loads of ads in these free advertising resources. (These aren't really free because you have to spend so much time earning your
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

Absolutely! SFI is continually changing and growing. I joined 2 years ago and there have been many changes in that time. SFI is dynamic.

You have a vast amount of new training and new advertising banners and heaps of other resources which have only recently been added to the store of resources. Even the Start video on the home page wasn't there 2 years ago.

Also VP is now 'lost' after a certain period of time, just so that new players can indeed compete on a level playing field and rise up the leaderboard quickly.

It is very easy in SFI to be way ahead of your sponsor. It depends on how hard you work and how much you learn and apply yourself as to how well you do in this business, not on when you joined.

Work hard, learn all you can and you have as good a chance as anyone whose been here for 10 years and done only the basics.

Wising you success!

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Absolutely! SFI is continually changing and growing. I joined 2 years ago and there have been many changes in that time. SFI is dynamic.

You have a vast amount of new training and new advertising banners and heaps of other resources which have only recently been added to the store of resources. Even the Start video on the home page wasn't there 2 years ago.

Also VP is now 'lost' after a certain period of time, just so that new players can indeed compete on a level playing
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

I think the best ways to sell TCredits are to promote the Pricebenders auctions. After all, the main use of the TCredits is to bid at the auctions.

You could also sell TCredits to your downline by encouraging them to participate in the auctions. Participating in the auctions will help them earn action VP and buying the TCredits earns them sales VP.

You could promote TripleClicks as a venue for an online garage sale. Each item a person lists costs 1 TCredit, so promoting these to people could make you sales of 10, 20, 50 or even more TCredits. Sales of the smaller packs useful for listing garage sale items bring good rewards and earn high VP values. A 50 Pak - 694VP, $4.16 DC; a 20Pak - 363 VP & $2.18 DC and a 10 Pak - 239 VP & $1.44 DC. Selling only a single TCredit will earn you 102 VP and a DC of 61 cents.

However promoting Pricebenders auctions is undoubtedly the best way of selling TCredits. Here are some suggestions on how to do that, which I’ve summarised from my earlier answer to an ASC SC question on that topic:

Copy winning auction results on your blog, Facebook page, or website, and email to your friends and family. Brag about your own wins on your blog, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as have the actual item to show your friends and family.

Make up flyers about Pricebenders showing pictures of winning items, and post these around your neighbourhood. If you know people who are addicted to ebay, make sure you tell them about Pricebenders. These people enjoy the bidding and the thrill of the win and would make great PRMs who would regularly purchase TCredits and participate just for fun! You could also distribute the TC Gift Card to people who would like to try it out for free.

Whenever you promote SFI or TripleClicks, promote Pricebenders along with it as Pricebenders is a vital component of the business and not just a side extra. Selling TCredits to PRMs to participate in Pricebenders could be a very lucrative commission stream for you.

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I think the best ways to sell TCredits are to promote the Pricebenders auctions. After all, the main use of the TCredits is to bid at the auctions.

You could also sell TCredits to your downline by encouraging them to participate in the auctions. Participating in the auctions will help them earn action VP and buying the TCredits earns them sales VP.

You could promote TripleClicks as a venue for an online garage sale. Each item a person lists costs 1 TCredit, so promoting
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

Most of the answers I have read so far seem to consider the follow-up as working with the new affiliate, or ECA after you have successfully joined them. My interpretation of Doreen's question is that she is asking about follow-up before a prospect joins SFI in whatever capacity. Obviously you will work with all people in your team consistently and help them to grow either as affiliates or ECAs. I am answering the question from the understanding that Doreen is talking about prospects, not team members. Generally people do not join a business after only one contact, so follow-up is necessary before the prospect becomes a member of your team.

Although all contacts with prospects are important, if I were to decide which is more important between initial contact and follow-up, I would say the initial contact is. First impressions are critical, and if you mess up the initial contact, you greatly reduce your chances of having a second go.

Follow-up can only come if there has been a successful initial contact first.

When approaching a new prospect whether as a possible ECA, SFI affiliate or TripleClicks customer, be prepared to answer any questions regarding any aspect of the business. Look professional, have the appropriate materials to leave with your prospect and above all be interested in your prospect, his life and his business.

For a prospect to perceive you and your proposition as interesting, you must come across right from the first as interested. If you try to be interesting yourself as opposed to being interested, you will turn him off right away. Look for commonality between you and the prospect and focus your approach around those areas.

If you do these things you draw the prospect toward you, you show your genuine interest in him or her as a person, you show that you are a professional with knowledge, integrity and warmth of character. You will leave a good first impression and are bound to have an opportunity to follow-up. When you do follow-up, your prospect will look forward to the meeting because you will have established such a strong bond of friendship and trust in your initial contact.

He will feel confident to learn more of what you have to share and trust that you will work with him if he does decide to join you. He will also feel confident that if he doesn't feel that the business is for him, that he will not be offending you personally, and will not feel obligated or pressured to join to keep you happy. Such a prospect would not be a good team member anyway. You can still have open lines of communication and at some point in the future if he reconsiders the idea of an online business, guess who he will come to looking for guidance? You.

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Most of the answers I have read so far seem to consider the follow-up as working with the new affiliate, or ECA after you have successfully joined them. My interpretation of Doreen's question is that she is asking about follow-up before a prospect joins SFI in whatever capacity. Obviously you will work with all people in your team consistently and help them to grow either as affiliates or ECAs. I am answering the question from the understanding that Doreen is talking about prospects, not team
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi Milica,
First of all, you need a product. A product that would have wide appeal would obviously sell more. You would need to consider where your market will come from – whether mostly SFI affiliates, or the general public.

If you hope to sell mainly to SFI affiliates, then products that would help them in running their SFI businesses would be top sellers. If you can create these products yourself, then you aren’t only relying on commissions, but get the sale price of your product. Also you only have to make the product once and you keep on being paid for work done once. You could add back end offers with your product as well. Lots of SFI affiliates do this very successfully with advertising co-ops, how to ebooks, sets of emails, blogging services etc.

As an ECA promoting mostly to SFI affiliates, you would need to become an SFI affiliate yourself so that you could connect with as many other affiliates as possible. You would need to have as many people connect with your TConnect page as possible and write regular news which your connected affiliates would see on their Stream pages. You would also need to make many a2a friends and then share new product releases and special buys in your Stream posts.

If you were going to sell outside of SFI to the general public, you would need to work out an advertising campaign to guide people to your product. You could possibly also use your product as an enticement to draw new affiliates into your business.

You need to figure out the packaging and postage costs of your products to various countries and make sure you deliver as soon as possible.

You need to figure out the price of your products and how much percentage you are willing to give TripleClicks. This determines what VP your product will have. People will more likely buy something with a higher VP value than something of a similar price with a lower VP. There is a calculator on the page where you list your products where you can play around with different prices and what profits you would make. Check up on TripleClicks to see if anyone else is selling the same product as yours and what price they are selling at. You will be competing with them.

You need to take good photos of your products and upload these, and write compelling descriptions of your products to encourage people to buy them.

Thanks for the question, Milica. Now that you have got me thinking about all this, I’ll have to go and put my answer into practice!

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Hi Milica,
First of all, you need a product. A product that would have wide appeal would obviously sell more. You would need to consider where your market will come from – whether mostly SFI affiliates, or the general public.

If you hope to sell mainly to SFI affiliates, then products that would help them in running their SFI businesses would be top sellers. If you can create these products yourself, then you aren’t only relying on commissions, but get the sale price of your
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

Yes, there are multiple opportunities to earn in SFI, so there should be something to appeal to just about everyone. Isn't that such a great thing about our business?
I would focus on one or two aspects at a time. I think if you try and split yourself between too many things, you may end up doing none of them well.
It depends on how much money you can spend and how much time you have as well.
If you can afford to belong to a co-op and pay for PSAs, then that could free you up to focus other advertising on another one or two aspects of the business.

If you don't have money to buy PSAs, and have to resort to Safelist and TAEs (free advertising) I would focus your advertising on building your team and getting PRMs to TripleClicks. These I think are the most important aspects of the business.

If you have a blog or personal website, by all means write about every income opportunity that SFI offers. There is no need to focus on only 1 when you have your own sites to use freely. Put up banners to every gateway.

If you advertise offline, try putting up different flyers in different places. Earn at home income opportunity flyers and garage style TC flyers could be good in shopping centres where mums could see them. Look for different flyers to put up at uni or TAFE campuses for students. They may like Pricebenders, Zebra games, or income earning on a part time basis. Put up flyers advertising song of the month contest in music shops, and other venues where musos may hang out. You can certainly advertise every aspect of the business in this way.

The most important income earning opportunity in SFI is growing a team of affiliates to eventually earn matching VP in the TC Executive Pool, so whatever else you choose to do, I think you should focus on this aspect and add anything else to this.

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Yes, there are multiple opportunities to earn in SFI, so there should be something to appeal to just about everyone. Isn't that such a great thing about our business?
I would focus on one or two aspects at a time. I think if you try and split yourself between too many things, you may end up doing none of them well.
It depends on how much money you can spend and how much time you have as well.
If you can afford to belong to a co-op and pay for PSAs, then that could free you up to
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

I am a financially challenged affiliate and find the Standing Order difficult to maintain. If I can possibly make EA in any given month without spending anything, I cancel the SO for that month. The SO is not permanent, but can be altered from month to month.
You can also make it as small as you wish. It doesn’t have to be 1500 VP, although you get the extra 100 VP when it is. If you are really financially challenged try a SO of just 1 TCredit. This will cost $1.89, but earn you 102 VP. If you have 4 PSAs who each bought just 1 TCredit as a SO, you would earn 4 lots of 58cents commission, which would be $2.32. You would be ahead by 43cents. That’s not much, but it’s better than being behind. If you kept adding PSAs through free advertising on Safelists etc and managed to have a few others buy just 1 TCredit as a SO, you could save up the small commissions and reinvest into buying 2 TCredits, and teach your team to do the same.
If you joined just 1 new PSA per month who did what you did, you would build up quite a large number of VP and commissions. Two TCredits would cost you $3.96. If you had a team of 5 PSAs each buying 2 TCredits you would earn $5.80 commission.

Buying 10 TCredits would cost you $18.90 and added to your usual daily, weekly and monthly action VP, would earn you enough VP to be an EA. 10 lots of 102 is 1,020 plus 497 equals 1517

I think that is the cheapest way to become an EA by having a SO, and you could build up to it gradually starting as low as $1.89.

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I am a financially challenged affiliate and find the Standing Order difficult to maintain. If I can possibly make EA in any given month without spending anything, I cancel the SO for that month. The SO is not permanent, but can be altered from month to month.
You can also make it as small as you wish. It doesn’t have to be 1500 VP, although you get the extra 100 VP when it is. If you are really financially challenged try a SO of just 1 TCredit. This will cost $1.89, but earn you 102
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

There are plenty of places offering free websites and they have particular styles you can choose from. With these you don't need to know any html. You write in the box they tell you to write in and upload pictures where they say to upload them. You often don't get your own domain name with these, but have the provider's name with a forward slash and then the name you want.

These are okay for a start, but I don't think they give you the flexibility of a site that you completely build yourself from scratch. It might sound daunting, but it's not that hard once you learn how.

I went to the local TAFE (low cost adult education)and did a course in basic computer. It covered how to use Word and Excel etc and also included a unit on web design and html. We built websites just using Notepad. I loved it and went back a couple of years later and specifically did a course in Web Design where I learnt to use Dreamweaver and learnt CSS styling. It appeals to my creative side and doesn't cost much at all.

Of course there is much more I need to learn to make a complicated website, but I can make a simple site with multiple pages and forms and download links etc.

Paying someone else to build your site can be very expensive, and other site building programs don't give you your own opportunity for creativity, so I think If you want a site that is uniquely yours, go and learn how to do it yourself! That is what I would recommend you do. You'll really enjoy it as well.

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There are plenty of places offering free websites and they have particular styles you can choose from. With these you don't need to know any html. You write in the box they tell you to write in and upload pictures where they say to upload them. You often don't get your own domain name with these, but have the provider's name with a forward slash and then the name you want.

These are okay for a start, but I don't think they give you the flexibility of a site that you completely build
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

I feel that subscribing to IAHBE simply to maintain EA status is an overrated activity. I did this for a few months and never once got time to actually read it. I did log in and have a bit of a look, but didn't learn anything from it. I felt I was wasting my money and saw it as being a monthly 'fee' in order to operate my 'free' SFI business.

I have now tried to work out more productive ways to maintain my EA status which brings me to the what seems to me the most underrated activity - making sales of TripleClicks products. I think there should be much greater emphasis on making sales, because after all, sales are what the whole business is built on. Without sales there is no Executive Pool and no CV to be shared around.

I am switching my focus from buying relatively useless things such as IAHBE and TCredits to maintain EA, towards selling enough products to new PRMs to earn my 1500 VP each month and earn commissions for life as well.

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I feel that subscribing to IAHBE simply to maintain EA status is an overrated activity. I did this for a few months and never once got time to actually read it. I did log in and have a bit of a look, but didn't learn anything from it. I felt I was wasting my money and saw it as being a monthly 'fee' in order to operate my 'free' SFI business.

I have now tried to work out more productive ways to maintain my EA status which brings me to the what seems to me the most underrated activity
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Affiliate since: 03/16/2012, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi Olakunie,
The personal characteristics you need to succeed in SFI are in fact more important than the skills you need. If you have the right attitude, you can acquire the skills.
The personal characteristics are related to how you view life in general and your attitude. If you are one of those people who think the world owes you a living and want to get by doing the minimum for yourself or anyone else, than you won't succeed at SFI or anything much else for that matter.

To succeed here you need a positive mental attitude that helps you stay strong and committed even when your PSAs don't log in and do anything. You need to realise that your success depends on YOU not on your team or your sponsor or any circumstances of your life.

You need to commit yourself to logging in every single day and doing all your daily, weekly and monthly actions, regardless of whatever else is going on. You need to be willing to invest time into working the business - writing to support your team, advertising, writing blog articles, entering the TTime draw, bidding in auctions or whatever strategy you have devised to work it.

You need to organise yourself, your time and prioritise all the demands on your time to make sure you make working the business a priority. You cannot succeed if you just look at it as a hobby; you must be serious about it.

You also need to work out a budget and plan how much you are able to invest financially into growing your business. If you have no money to invest, you can still succeed, but you will have to devise a strategy, and STICK TO IT. It is possible to succeed by only having a standing order of a single TCredit. It takes longer and requires more commitment in time, but it can be done.

In short to succeed in SFI you need the same qualities you need to succeed in any undertaking - positive mental attitude, perseverance, dogged determination to succeed against any odds, organisational skills and a willingness to learn. Good personal relationship skills and communication abilities are also a plus in working with your team.

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Hi Olakunie,
The personal characteristics you need to succeed in SFI are in fact more important than the skills you need. If you have the right attitude, you can acquire the skills.
The personal characteristics are related to how you view life in general and your attitude. If you are one of those people who think the world owes you a living and want to get by doing the minimum for yourself or anyone else, than you won't succeed at SFI or anything much else for that matter.

To
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